The impact of chronic pain on the self-concept

Abstract

Compared self-concepts of three groups, medical patients, chronic low back pain patients and chronic head pain patients ( N = 60) to determine (1) whether chronic pain r t i e n t s have self-perceptions that differ from other medical patients; (2) w ether changes in self-perception are limited to hysical attributes and capacities; and finally (3) whether persons who suffer ifferent types of chronic pain would have differing self-concepts. Significantly lower self-concepts were obtained from groups of head pain and low back pain patients. Self-concept patterns for the two pain groups were quite similar with the exception of two self-concept components that were significantly lower for the head pain group. Differences were explained in terms of loss of many normal functions and disruption of normal life-styles. Implications for treatment of pain patients and for training of health professionals were discussed.

Self‐esteem, types of attributional style and sensation and distress pain ratings in males

“…Degrees of congruency were proposed to exist between self-esteem as a construct of self-concept and evidence supplied by sensory and reactive experiences of the individual. Self-esteem/pain 'matching' is exemplified in the study by Armontrout (1979), who hypothesized that self-esteem patterns are affected by pain. In comparing three groups of patients, namely, medical, chronic low back-pain, and chronic head-pain, he found significantly lower levels of self-esteem in individuals in the two pain groups, demonstrating a link between selfesteem and pain.…”

“…(NB When attributional style relationships were analyzed for groups 1 and 2, hypotheses 3-6 were still not confirmed.) Recent investigations of self-esteem or self"concept and pain (Armontrout 1979, Elton et al 1978, Sternbach et al 1973, Thomas & Lyttle 1980) focused on chronic pain conditions, mostly of uncertain aetiology, e.g. head pain and low back-pain.…”

The Relationship between Levels of Self-Esteem, Clinical Variables, Anxiety/Depression and Coping among Patients with Musculoskeletal Pain

“…Some of these studies showed that patients with chronic pain had reduced SE [61][62][63][64][65] and that SE could be improved following rehabilitation [54,66]. Others did not found support for an association between low SE and chronic pain [67][68][69][70][71].…”

Value of consensual ratings in differentiating organic and functional low back pain,

“…Several clinical studies suggest that some individuals are more predisposed than others to experience pain as a symptom (Engel, 1959;Kane, 1977;Sarno, 1977). Although perceived as a physical symptom, the pain experienced by these patients serves emotional and psychological needs that are hypothesized to be mediated through unconscious mechanisms (Armentrout, 1979;Blumer, 1975).…”